Lecture: Mountain Regions WS 2024/25

"You can’t conquer a mountain, though it may conquer you." (Jimmy Chin)

Mountain Regions

Premise:

Mountainous areas are impressive and important landscapes of our planet. Depending on the inclusion of only immediate forelands (with highly urbanized areas) or even of large forelands with mega cities, global mountain terrain outside Antarctica covers between 12.5 and 27% of the Earth’s land surface and has 0.5 to 1 billion inhabitants. Due to their topographical complexity and climatic as well as geological variability over short distances, mountains are rich in biological and socio-cultural diversity and provide manifold ecosystem services crucial for people living both in mountains and lowlands. For instance, around one quarter of the global population depends on fresh water, collected by mountains as atmospheric barriers and released from their huge natural reservoirs.

The entire lecture will be orientated along two major questions:

• How do mountains impacts different squeres (e.g. Atmosphere or Biosphere)?
• How are mountain affected by global change?

Benefits from lecture:

• Comprehensive, interdisciplinary overview about mountain systems
• Insights into processes relevant for mountain regions accompanied by pratical excersises
• Awarness about past, current and future challenges as well as strategies for sustainable developments
• Perspectives for professional development in the field of mountain research in Innsbruck and beyond

Special features of lecture:

• Inputs from experts with different backgrounds
• Mixed lecture format with interactive elements (lab visits, data anaylsis etc.)
• Group work with students from various disciplines supporting peer-to-peer learning

Main lecturers:

• Wolfgang Gurgiser
• Prof. Stefan Mayr

 

P - Presentation , D - Discussion

Lectures

• Unit 1
• Unit 2
• Unit 3
• Unit 4
• Unit 5
• Unit 6
• Unit 7
• Unit 8
• Unit 9
• Unit 10
• Unit 11
• Unit 12
• Unit 13
• Unit 14
• Unit 15